The winter quarter at UCLA Anderson brings On Campus Recruiting (OCR), changing the entire mood around the school. This year, a diverse set of companies started visiting, conducting internship interviews with first-year full-time MBA students. Happy hours were replaced with interview-practice team meetings and queues at the career management center seemed longer than those in food cafes.

The finance companies wrapped up their recruiting by the end of January, whereas the big tech and consulting firms are conducting subsequent rounds. Alums, career advisors and second-year coaches have been very helpful during the process, as is the internal database which helps students tap into a wealth of knowledge regarding interview questions and best practices.

What I learnt: Do not compare yourself to other candidates. Different industries have different recruiting cycles, so it is just a matter on time before you will land your desired internship. And remember – every failed interview is only practice towards cracking the job you really deserve.

Congratulations to all those who have secured their internship and good luck to everyone else.

Day-on-the-Job events are onsite visits to companies to learn about MBA opportunities and get a sense of work culture. A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to visit tech companies in Seattle and Silicon Valley. I was surprised by the number of companies we could visit. UCLA Anderson and on-campus High Tech Business Club (HTBA) did a great job organising this trek of more than 150 students. Below is snapshot of my tech trek week.

Friday 11/14

Left for Seattle immediately after 12:45 pm class. Completed economics and accounting homework during travel.

The shortest I have lived in a city is six days and the maximum is five years. I was only six days old before my parents moved from Karnal, a small town in northern India to Bangalore, also known as the Electronic City of India.

Since both my parents were working, I would spend my day with three different families, who were speaking three different languages. Before I even knew it, I had moved to three cities in India and three countries in the Middle East by the age of 12. And that’s how discovering new places and experiencing new cultures became a passion. Continue reading →

This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring interviews with current MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at top MBA programs. And now for a follow up interview with Piyush, who was recently accepted to UCLA Anderson. (We first met Piyush last year – you can read our first interview with him here.)

Accepted: Can you remind us a little about who you are?

Piyush: I am an incoming UCLA Anderson MBA candidate with experience in development consulting, entrepreneurship (retail) and oil and gas. Most of my roles in these industries have been people-orientated and in sales. I am a biotech graduate from London and have lived in 7 countries, mostly in the Middle-East. Continue reading →

The most successful McKinsey consultants are networkers of the highest order.

Deal-making skills have become more important than scale or scope, and strategic insight and foresight more important than structural position

Restless curiosity

McKinsey alumnus Paul Chellgren, who went on to become president of Ashland Oil, explained the preference to BusinessWeek in 1993: “[Working at McKinsey provides] a cram course in business experience,” he said. “It was a compressed opportunity to see a lot of companies, industries, and problems in a short period of time.

I can’t remember how many times I have played this song since receiving my admission offer. I am truly ecstatic to join the Anderson family as a MBA 2016 candidate and as a student blogger.

Hello everyone. Before I begin sharing about my transition from Middle East to Los Angeles, I would like to introduce myself in this post. My name is Piyush and I am originally from India. The literal meaning of my name in Hindi language is elixir of immortality. Although I am aging too, I can share some tips to live longer. Continue reading →

I am really excited this year. Not only I am relatively free, having secured my MBA admission but also more informed about the game and teams. Although Brazil is one of the best country to host this competition, I would have to stay awake late in the night to catch the action. Enough said, its time for the games to begin. I am not football pundit, so will not dwell into favourite team and top scorers but will definitely advice people to join the celebrations. Continue reading →

Alexander Samwer, MBA from Harvard Business School, and founder of Alando (valued at $5 Billion) and Jamba! (sold to VeriSign for $270 million) is very critical of young people chasing the wrong train. In his interview, he compares the opportunities in internet revolution to the ones during California gold rush, post world-wars and industrial revolution. He says that the market is big enough for everyone and he does not gets it when young people are not in the internet industry, biggest opportunity our generation is going to have.
The 20 minute interview is interesting, frank and worth watching.

Low budget film but high on entertainment. The film revolves around love of Bollywood in Pakistan and how cinema brings different people together. The lead actor, Shaarib Hashmi entertains the crowd by mimicking Bollywood movie scenes and actors. Although a good movie, I believe you will enjoy it more in the comfort of your home.

My decision came down to IIM Bangalore and UCLA Anderson. Before committing to a school, I posted this question on different MBA forums, spoke to current students and recent alums, and consulted friends and family. Speaking to different people, I was not only able to gather different prospectives but also be in a better position to make such an important decision.

India or Abroad

I will share some of the views that I came across, obviously most of them are in my context and may vary from person to person. Firstly you really can’t compare India business schools to schools in Europe and United States. The schools are catering to different markets and countries. Its like comparing apples to mangoes. However I will try my best to summarize the discussion. Continue reading →

I will be honest, Anderson was not my first choice school when I started my MBA applications. However as I learnt about other schools and went through the Anderson application process, I fell in love with the people, school and of course the location. Continue reading →

There are approximately 22 million Indians living overseas according to the Government of India. Just to give you comparison, the population of Australia is 22.68 million only. Although there is no age demographics breakdown, I believe a major chunk of this population is married with children. Parents looking for quality education are open to Indian education system, which has now started to welcome Non-resident Indians (NRI) and persons of Indian origin (PIO).

At the same time, current students at International universities, and graduates from India, who are taking up International positions are eager to return for their MBA. Continue reading →